The SPaMCAST 586 features our interview with Jeff Dalton. We talked about his bookGreat Big Agileand the Agile Performance Holarchy. One of the topics we explored in this podcast is the relationship between being a professional musician and a software developer. Jeff brings his wisdom and humor to the podcast again to help listeners learn from high-performance agile organizations!

Note:At 23:50 ish in this Podcast Jeff and I begin an exchange on the difference between the attributes needed to be an agile leader and those needed to climb the corporate ladder. The discussion is a profound truth that rarely is discussed or is suppressed. I would like to hear your thoughts!

Jeff Dalton is Chief Evangelist atAgileCxO.org, a Research and Development organization that studies agile leadership. He is a technology executive with over 30 years of experience as a CTO, CIO, VP of Product Development, and for that past fifteen years has been CEO of Broadsword and AgileCxO. He is an executive agile coach, agile assessor, and instructor, a regular conference speaker, and author of both "The Agile Performance Holarchy: An Operating System for Agile Leaders" and "The Guide to Scrum and CMMI: Improving Agile Performance with CMMI." In his spare time, Jeff is an instrument-rated pilot and plays bass in a jazz band. He has degrees in music and computer science.

The Business Agility Conference is an intense 2-day event focusing on the future of business, focusing on customer centricity, employee engagement, organization design, product innovation, and next-gen leadership. The Conference is bringing together some of the greatest speakers and practitioners of business agility to share their experiences and the benefits their organizations have gained from exploring new and agile practices.

This is the first, and original, Business Agility Conference. The goal is to bring the local and international business agility community together in a friendly, educational and fun environment to exchange and explore ways to create lasting change.

This conference is unique, not only in the topic but also in structure. You will experience;

20-minute “Art of the Possible” stories from each speaker

20-minutes Panel Q/A with the audience for each theme

45-minute deep dives and facilitated peer conversations

This year’s speakers include current and prior executives from Zappos, Amazon, Pacific Life Insurance, Scrum Alliance, the Chair of the Board of CHOICE, as well as thought-leaders from Menlo Innovations, Freddie Mac, and AgilityHealth.

Support the podcast and blog by visiting the link and adding the Business Agility Conference to your conference dance card in 2020!

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we begin our re-read of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler. This week we review the logistics of the read, the two forewords, and the preface. One of the major takeaways in week 1 is that Covey suggests using the book in a cycle of learning, doing, reflecting and then repeating. The learning cycle ought to resonate with every Scrum Master, Agile Coach and change leader.

If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link above! sing the linkhttps://amzn.to/34RuZ6V(using the link helps support the blog and podcast).

Next SPaMCAST

For SPaMCAST 587 we are going to break cadence and feature another interview. Ryan Ripley, Todd Miller and I discussed their new bookFixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems. We discussed how to define broken scrum processes. Ryan and Todd make the point thatScrum is so much more than a checklist of practices to follow, yet that's exactly how many organizations practice it.